


pride

by lesbianbey



Series: LGBT Kipling [15]
Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Happy Pride, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Other, Pride Parades, because I was having writer's block and I still kinda do, pride festivals, this isn't much tbh and I skipped a bunch of things people wanted to see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 20:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11298675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianbey/pseuds/lesbianbey
Summary: The Kipling Family and their friends attend NYC Pride 2017.





	pride

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Pride! I'll be marching at my city's pride march today so I had to post this early but I bet this isn't even a problem lol. I also waited several days to post this because well...you'll see.
> 
> tumblr @ lesbianbeyonce

Dizzee is the first person to wake up. It's the day of pride, and as much as he is ready, he also isn't. This is his attempt for his parents to finally meet Thor and instead of having dinner like normal parents with children who have significant others, he decided "fuck it". What he didn't expect when he suggested it to his parents, was that they are definitely on board. They even told Dizzee that they were gonna go to pride anyway.

For the first hour of the morning, everyone else wakes up and it's a little busy...for six in the morning. Ra suggests they have one more talk because they haven't had one in so long since their parents walked in on them, and Dizzee agrees. Yolanda suggests that maybe Mylene and Regina, who stayed the night, should join them today, since it might be weird if they're left out, but Boo Boo immediately shuts it down.

"Hell no. This is strictly for us niggas, not your praline queen and your latina princess."

Yolanda glares at Boo. "Shut the fuck up."

Ra shrugs. "He's kinda right though. It's always been the four of us."

"Yeah but...we're just gonna discuss what we always discuss, and whatever we discuss here, I share with my girls right after. It would make sense if we just invited them."

"Just this once, Yo-Yo," Dizzee tells her.

"Dizz! What the fuck?" Boo protests.

"If Napoleon was here you would suggest the exact same thing, don't play yourself," Dizzee retorts, earning a smug grin from Yolanda before she leaves to get Mylene and Regina from her room.

Boo huffs, and crosses his arms. Yolanda comes back a minute later, with Regina and Mylene behind her. "I never been inside Dizzee's room. It's mad dope," Regina says, looking around in awe.

"Come sit," Dizzee suggests, gesturing towards the empty spots on his bed and on the floor. Mylene sits on the bed while Regina sit on the floor and Yolanda sits right next to her older brother. "Yolanda invited you two here, so you must be special."

"Shiiiid, we must be," Regina smirks.

"Last time we talked, our parents walked in and found out we were all not straight and then they told us that they ain't straight either. It was embarrassing as hell," Yolanda tells her girlfriends.

Regina widens her eyes while Mylene's jaw drops. "Adele and Winston Kipling," Mylene says, trying to understand the situation.

"Yeah, somehow we all inherited their sexuality," Dizzee jokes. "But, that's not really the issue. We going to pride march later and as fun as it's gonna be, I know some of y'all don't really like each other." He glances at Yolanda, and Mylene respectively, hoping it gets through to them.

"Why did y'all even invite that dumb nigga to the march?" Yolanda snarls. "Can we just have everyone here along with Thor, Napoleon, and Tanya? Zeke is debatable."

Regina sighs deeply. She hopes one of these days Yolanda will eventually settle her differences with Shao, because she cares for the both of them. "Yolanda."

"I know you his friend, but that don't mean I like it."

"Why should it matter if she's friends with Shao?" Boo argues. "She can be friends with Shao just as much as me and the rest of my brothers are friends with Shao. Plus, they been buddies longer than any of us even knew of Shao. He ain't even that bad, and you don't even know him aside from who he look like and what his name is, Yolanda. You shouldn't say shit about him."

"Ok...tea," Dizzee mumbles.

"But since we revealing who we don't like, I didn't like Mylene," Boo says casually.

Mylene isn't even surprised by that. She always sensed Boo disliking her the minute they met. "Is it because you were into Zeke?"

"Part of it," he replies. "But, I'm trying to make a point. I didn't like you when I met you, and I still don't really fuck with you, but that don't mean I dislike you, now that I kinda know you a little more. If y'all actually took the time to know Shao, none of y'all would be saying this bullshit. Despite what y'all heard, Shao got heart. Nigga took in Napoleon when he was helpless and he always look out for us even when he don't have to."

"Yeah, he may be a jerk at times but he cool as hell," Regina agrees. "He looked out for me since i was a young one."

"It's always nice to have a friend I can talk about comics with," Ra chimes in. "He a good listener too. Boo can be talking about how he hates Riverdale and this nigga will still be listening even though he ain't interested."

"It's because that show trash," Boo mumbles.

"If you're gonna tell Regina you don't have a problem with it, you gotta follow up to it," Dizzee tells his sister and Mylene.

Yolanda looks at Mylene, and sighs. "Fine. But if that nigga look at me funny, that's it."

Dizzee, Ra, and Boo roll their eyes, but they just let it go. "Let's get a move on. Mom and dad are gonna wake up and if we ain't ready, they actually might leave without us."

* * *

 

Winston doesn't immediately take a liking to Thor, but he seemingly likes everyone else. This is expected, and Dizzee is sure with time that he would eventually warm up to Thor. Adele suggests that they should use the time to enjoy themselves at the pride festival since they are really early, while they look for some food and beverages for them to have during the parade. It's particularly mild weather wise, but neither parent would pass judgement.

Yolanda finds herself perpetually annoyed with most of the stands. She spent a good deal yesterday doing research on lesbian flags since she heard there was one, and now that she's here, she couldn't really buy one for herself. There was even an asexual flag, which annoys her even more. "They legit only have like six flags," Yolanda complains. "Where the lesbian flag at?"

"I didn't even know lesbians even had their own flag," Regina replies. She picks up the multicolored bisexual flag. "What it look like?"

"It has different pinks and reds," Mylene replies. "It's a nice flag though."

Yolanda picks up a very large rainbow flag by the pack. "A huge one? Do I really need a flag this big?"

"You can wear it as a cape today and then use it as a wall tapestry all year round," Mylene suggests. "I would get one but...ugh…"

"Ramón going through your stuff again?"

Mylene sighs, which confirms her answer. "As usual. He gotta find some way to control my life."

Yolanda frowns. She has met Mylene's dad a few times and she hated him. There were times where she, including her parents, would have to persuade Mylene's father to let her sleep over at her house because her father was being extra controlling. It was difficult for him to even agree on Mylene staying over for one night so that she can go to pride the next day. She picks up the flags that her girlfriends were looking at, including the large rainbow wall tapestry, and pulls out the money her dad gave her before they went their different ways. "I'll take these."

"Babe, check this out." Boo puts on a pair of rainbow glasses with a multicolored boa, all items he just bought (along with a bi flag). He poses right in front of Napoleon, who watches him and starts laughing. "Do I look gay enough?"

"You look gayer than usual," Zeke snorts.

"I was asking Leon, not Zeke," Boo retorts halfheartedly. "And I look better than you."

"Ok nigga." Zeke turns around, and Shao was just standing next to him, not saying anything. "You good, Shao?"

"Yeah, nigga, i'm good," Shao replies. Zeke couldn't tell if that was a lie but he knows it doesn't reach Shao's eyes. "It's y'all's day and i'm not gonna ruin that."

Zeke decides to brush it off instead of confronting Shao. He wants to stop thinking about what Dizzee told him about telling Shao how he feels, but he can't. He really wants to tell Shao. He was hoping today would give him the confidence but pride is apparently not on his side.

"Any one of y'all got something I can use to make this into a cape for Leon? He said he wanted to be a bi hero."

Dizzee leans against the barricades. The groups of people were already gathering and the parade will start in almost half an hour, so he has time. He watches Thor tie a piece of ribbon around the holes of their brand new huge nonbinary flag around their neck, making them look like a superhero or something. "Should I call you Super Thor or something?"

"You're funny," Thor deadpans. "I'm just glad the vendors actually had the nonbinary flag."

"You can never have too much flags."

When Thor gets ready to reply, their phone starts ringing. They pick it up, look at the caller ID and press answer. "Hey, where are you?"

Dizzee should probably tell his parents and the rest of the crew that the parade is about to start. Knowing these parades, people start crowding up real fast. He pulls out his phone and sends a message to both his parents and his brothers and sister. "Who was that?" Dizzee asks once he sees Thor hang up the phone."

"Harriet was trying to figure out where we were," Thor replies. "I'mma go find her before she gets lost."

"Damn," Ra mutters. He was kinda hoping to find a vendor who sold fandom merchandise with rainbow logos, but him and Tanya were only able to pick out a couple of rainbow paraphernalia, including a bisexual flag for him. "Dizzee said we gotta get there before they start building up a crowd."

"Ok," Tanya replies. She scans the crowd, and finds a red jacket. "I think I see Shao so we could meet up with him."

"Yeah that's definitely Shao." Ra-Ra leads the way, with Tanya right behind him, holding each other's hands so that they won't get too lost.

Shao was holding a brand new sword he purchased from a vendor (it had the rainbow flag on it but he'll let it slide) when Ra and Tanya approached him. "What's going on?"

"Dizzee messaged me telling me that we should meet him there before the crowd gets bigger."

Dizzee waits patiently for his family to get back while Thor stepped off to go find Harriet. It doesn't take long though because she appears with Thor right next to her. "Rumi."

"Harriet," Dizzee greets back, giving her a friendly hug. "How's it going?"

"Been good. I tried convincing Crash and Daze but they still won't come through."

Dizzee shakes his head. "It's fine. They're still scared and I definitely understand that."

"Yeah but,,.i was hoping it would be all of us like old times...along with your family of course." Dizzee wanted that to be a reality too. It isn't his first pride but it is his first with his family and he wants them to have as much fun as he did when he went to his first pride. "This morning my dog was being possessive again and basically used my large pansexual flag as a cloth to sleep on. I tried to retrieve it but he growled at me. I have a shirt but that's it."

Dizzee almost replies but he sees his sister making her way here with her girlfriends. "Yolanda! Over here!"

Yolanda rushes over to Dizzee, relieved. "You weren't lying when you said the crowd builds fast. Are they all here to…"

"Yeah," Thor answers. "Most of them are pretty gay but you have some straight people here to support their friends...or they're just here for brownie points and they think the community throws the best parties."

Ra and Tanya show up with Boo, Napoleon, Zeke and Shao. Shao clenches his sword tightly, hoping today that no one will approach their group. Something about this place is making Shao uncomfortable, especially after seeing the group of Christians holding up their anti-LGBT signs.

Shao never liked parades. It never really made sense to him that parades exist. What was the point? Even when Dizzee told him about the history and stuff like that two days before, he still can't understand it. However, this is his friends' day. It would also be for him...if he were proud of his sexuality. He acknowledges that he isn't straight, but he cannot admit it to anyone because he isn't really proud of it. Maybe when his ex was alive and they were still together...but even back then he hid it from people that weren't Napoleon or Regina...for good reason. Man, he really hates Annie and Cadillac for their abuse. They tore him down and made him feel terrible for having interest in men and often physically tortured him like he was absolutely nothing just for kicks and to "beat the faggot away".

If he could do his life over, he would find the person responsible for burning his house down and killing them instantly (since it was arson, not his dad trying to burn the carpet down while he smoked weed in the living room, surprisingly). Maybe he would still have a bed, and maybe he would just move out of his neglectful parents' home as time wades and live on his own...maybe in a better apartment or something. Maybe he would have finished school instead of dropping out and only depending on textbooks that Napoleon keeps in his room. Maybe he would still look out for Regina because her dad is still an alcoholic and the only reason why she isn't getting the brunt of his alcoholic rages anymore is because he installed a lock for her room, and maybe he would keep Napoleon safe. He would never ever meet Annie and Cadillac and Little Wolf or any of those manipulating ass niggas.

Would he meet Zeke in this alternate universe? They met in a record store and they were fighting over a shitty Misty Holloway record that was only available in that store. He wanted it to make music while Zeke wanted it as a birthday gift for Mylene. Zeke wins the record but Shao was intrigued by Zeke's way with words so their friendship begins...yeah, he probably would have met that skinny nigga. He's seen Dizzee around even before he met Zeke so maybe one of these days Dizzee would have recognized him and they would have had a friendship similar to the one they have now. He would have met Ra and Boo thanks to Dizzee. Boo would have met Napoleon in school instead of meeting in Shao's apartment and they would have had a longer relationship than Dizzee and his boyfriend Thor. That was a fact.

He would've probably liked Mylene too because he's sure Regina would introduce the two...and also introduce Yolanda too. They would've got along fine and Shao wouldn't be traumatized by the abuse that Annie and Cadillac gave him for many years.

"Shao!" Zeke is waving a hand in his face, looking concerned. "You tuned out for a few minutes."

"Sorry," Shao apologizes. "Did it start?"

"Yeah, but it was only the lesbians in motorcycles," Regina answers.

Shao looks around, noticing that not only Winston and Adele standing right next to their kids but the crowd has almost doubled in size. "Damn...did I daydream for that long?" He mutters to himself.

* * *

 

The parade is in full swing. Most of the floats were loud and proud, either playing songs from the 80s and shouting through a megaphone or playing today's music and jumping around. A couple groups, like cheerleaders and runners, put on a small show. Organizations give out stickers and bags full of items. Boo snatches a small paddle from someone and smirks a little. "I'm digging this."

Yolanda snatches it away and throws it far away. "And now you can dig it from afar."

Boo grumbles under his breath. Shao smirks a little, noticing how much Yolanda cares for her younger brother. He probably doesn't know what it is for but at least she got rid of it before he can find out.

He kinda doesn't like the fact that some organizations were handing out condoms and lube but they were unavoidable. He's sure Winston would take them away and throw them away before either Boo or Ra get the idea.

Zeke gets a rainbow bag from some guy, who comments on how cute his smile was, and Shao almost sees red (and it isn't his outfit). "It isn't my style but I like free shit," Zeke shrugs.

Yolanda looks at him expectantly. "So I can have it, right?"

"No," Zeke replies simply.

Shao clenches his sword so hard he might actually break it. The casing is probably fake plastic anyway. "Shao, relax," he hears Dizzee whisper, with a hand on his forearm. He knows he was clenching the sword but barely noticed that he was clenching his teeth.

* * *

 

The parade takes up the whole day. By the last two hours, the sky starts to darken a little and it starts drizzling, but it doesn't stop anyone from having fun. Shao even relaxes a little after being tense from the guy flirting at Zeke and the anti-LGBT Christian groups from earlier.

Winston grabs the condoms and other safe sex items away from Boo and Ra and throws them in the garbage. Ra doesn't seem too miffed, but Boo isn't happy about it. "Hey!"

"Don't even start, boy." Winston gives Boo a deathly warning stare, prompting him to shut up.

"This was really fun though," Mylene comments. She sadly removes some of the rainbow paraphernalia that she was wearing, because right after she picks up her stuff from Yolanda's home she's going back to her house.

"We should make this a yearly thing," Regina suggests. "By next year, we should all get on a float, or find a way to."

"I'm not getting on no float," Shao grimaces. "I'll support y'all though."

"And why not?" Regina inquires.

"Not a big fan of parades, and that shit was televised. Nah, I'm good." He already risked it today and his bright red hoodie can only do so much. If he was on a float and Annie ended up flipping channels only to find Shao standing on a float being free, he's gonna die. "Like I said, I'll support you and i'll be on the sidelines watching you. That's the best I can do."

Regina pouts. "You no fun."

Boo rolls his eyes. "I don't wanna go on no stupid ass float anyway."

Regina groans. "Y'all are lame. All of y'all."

"I'll join you on a float," Thor speaks up, smiling at Regina.

Regina points to Thor and looks at Dizzee. "I like them."

The ride back to the Bronx is anything but silent. Jokes and comments are thrown around - it's mostly Boo making jokes about some of the groups at the parade - but Shao stays mostly silent. Despite having some fun he's still a little tense from the Christian group. Something tells him this might bite somebody in the ass. Whether it's him or someone he least expects is the question.


End file.
